The people behind dive bar Krakatoa

Overview

Worker Owned & Operated

Cooperatives are democratic companies owned and controlled by their members, and operated either for the benefit of said members, or that of a broader community. This differs from private enterprise, wherein companies are generally owned and controlled by absentee shareholders, with the sole purpose of generating profit. Cooperatives reside in the third (voluntary) sector, and adhere to the principle of “one member one vote”. Such entities offer consumers the means to bypass capitalism.

Workplace Without Bosses

The form a particular cooperative takes, depends on the nature of its membership. In a worker cooperative the membership consists entirely of the people who work there. Most worker cooperatives are hierarchal structures, with the workers electing and appointing their own management. However some cooperatives are non-hierarchal, and operate without bosses. These worker collectives have instead chosen to implement a horizontal structure, based around freedom of association, autonomy, rational authority, collective responsibility, consensus democracy, and solidarity. Krakatoa is one such workplace.

Not for Profit

Krakatoa is also non-profit making, due to Black Cat being an asset locked community interest company limited by guarantee. While our workers are paid, this legal structure imposes a cap on our wages, and prevents our members from awarding themselves bonuses. Any surplus we generate can only be divested in furtherance of our community purpose, which is to enhance the local grassroots music scene.

Benefitting Local Culture

This means, that after our operating costs are covered, any money you spend at Krakatoa goes towards enriching local culture, rather than into someone else’s pocket.

In Pursuit of Fairness

This is a very different model from being crowd funded, or offering up deals on equity. We’re not looking to profit at the expense of others. The only thing that can grow rich from Krakatoa is the diversity of local grassroots music. By spending money here, you are effectively voting to enhance our music scene every time you stick your hand in your pocket. Hence you can listen to great bands, have a few drinks (and perhaps even a dance), whilst helping to engineer a slightly better world, simply by choosing to enjoy yourself in a clandestine little dive bar. Neat huh?

Without Bullshit

A worker collective doesn’t just talk the talk, it walks the walk. Our legal structure, guarantees that any assets accumulated by Black Cat can never be sold for profit, not under any circumstances.

Or Even Rent

Black Cat is only required to contribute to the upkeep of the building when it can afford to do so. The property owner has bequeathed the building into trust for our worker collective, in the event of his death. No one will grow wealthy off your patronage.